The widely anticipated launch of free roaming between Liberia and Sierra Leone seems to have begun, with a Liberia-Cote d’Ivoire deal now much closer.
This week Liberia and Sierra Leone announced the rollout of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-inspired free roaming initiative, designed to ease cross-border mobile roaming costs.
Under the ECOWAS initiative, citizens of both Liberia and Sierra Leone can now use mobile services in each other's countries without incurring international roaming charges.
Liberia also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Côte d'Ivoire towards the implementation of a similar initiative.
This apparently followed a three-day conference from 4-6 August. The conference was hosted by the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) which was joined by Sierra Leone's National Communications Authority (NatCA) and officials from Côte d'Ivoire.
As we reported at the time, Liberia signed roaming deals with Sierra Leone and The Gambia six months ago. It’s not clear when the deal with The Gambia will be activated. It was due to start in early July.
Commenting on the MoU, Clarence K Massaquoi, Chairman of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), highlighted the deep-rooted ties between Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, noting that their shared border, the longest Liberia has with any neighbouring state.
Of course, where people share not only land but culture, steep roaming fees have proved inconvenient, especially as farmers, traders, and transport operators often rely on phone calls and mobile money services to conduct cross-border business. This deal could therefore be a massive boost for trade – in border areas in particular.
However, it's not yet clear when the Liberia-Côte d'Ivoire agreement will actually come into effect. Mobile operators in Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire have already begun technical preparations to implement the new roaming framework, which covers voice calls, text messaging and data services. They will also have to agree revenue-sharing models, deal with service quality, and address consumer protection.
